The present invention relates to a new and improved apparatus and method for use in sharpening a skate blade having a thickness and radius of hollow.
A known skate blade sharpening apparatus includes a hand held housing which encloses a cylindrical abrasive member, that is, a honing stone. A slot is provided in the housing to position the blade of a skate relative to the honing stone. A skate blade sharpening apparatus having this construction is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,283.
Another skate blade sharpening apparatus includes a manually engagable body or housing having a slot which receives a skate blade. Carbide cutting inserts are disposed in the housing and are engaged by a skate blade when the blade is disposed in the slot. A skate blade sharpening apparatus having this construction is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,585,880.
Still another known skate blade sharpening apparatus includes a file and a body of abrasive material. A first slot is provided to position the skate blade relative to the file. A second slot is provided to position the skate blade relative to the abrasive material. A skate blade sharpening apparatus having this construction is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,006,000.
The present invention relates to a new and improved apparatus and method for use in sharpening a skate blade. The apparatus may include a handle and a sharpening cartridge which is connected with the handle. The sharpening cartridge may include a casing and a sharpening blade which is connected with the casing. A slot may be formed in the casing and is engagable with opposite sides of a skate blade to position the skate blade and sharpening apparatus relative to each other. The sharpening blade may have an arcuate cutting edge which extends across the bottom of the slot in the casing. The arcuate cutting edge is engagable with the skate blade during sharpening of the skate blade.
A plurality of sharpening cartridges may be provided to sharpen skate blades having different dimensions. The thickness of a skate blade to be sharpened may be gauged. A sharpening cartridge having a slot with a width corresponding to the gauged width of the skate blade is then selected. The selected sharpening cartridge is connected with the handle and is utilized to sharpen the skate blade.
The present invention has a plurality of different features. The different features of the present invention may be used either separately or in combination with each other or in combination with features of the prior art. It should be understood that various combinations of features of the present invention and/or features of the prior art may be combined to provide a skate blade sharpening apparatus.